Arndale Centres

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Arndale Centres are a large chain of shopping centres in the United Kingdom - they were the first "American-style" malls to be constructed in the UK. The first centre was built in Jarrow in 1961, and was followed by developments in Leeds, Luton, London, Bradford, Aberdeen, Poole and other British towns and cities. 18 were built in total. The biggest and best-known Arndale Centre is in Manchester. Manchester Arndale was originally built during the 1970s. It was badly damaged during the 1996 IRA bombing and is currently in the process of being extensively redeveloped.

[edit] History

The Arndale Property Trust was set up shortly after World War II; it was named after its founders, Arnold Hagenbach and Sam Chippindale. The Trust purchased Bradford's Victoria Swan Arcade in 1954 with the intention of demolishing it and developing a new shopping centre on the site.

Before the Bradford Arndale could be built, a site in Jarrow, South Tyneside was developed, and the first Arndale Centre opened there in 1961. (Jarrow's trademark Viking statue was built by the Trust in 1963.)

Many Arndale Centres were constructed throughout the UK during the 1960s. They were largely successful, but also attracted a great deal of criticism, as the Arndale developments often involved obliterating old buildings (particularly Victorian architecture) and replacing them with modern concrete constructions in a brutalist style.

At the turn of the 1970s, an Arndale Centre was built in Wandsworth, London; it was the largest shopping centre anywhere in Europe at that time. It opened in 1971 and featured a high-rise development on top of the shopping mall. The Wandsworth centre was redeveloped and renamed Southside in 2003.

[edit] List of Arndale Centres

The following are a list of Arndale centres that opened in the United Kingdom and Australia:

United Kingdom

Aberdeen
Accrington
Bolton now known as Crompton Place
Bradford
Doncaster now known as Frenchgate which is currently being refurbished/new centre built
Eastbourne
Jarrow
Lancaster
Leeds, Armley
Leeds, Cross Gates now known as the Cross Gates Shopping Centre
Leeds, Headingley
Luton, purchased in 2006 by The Mall group and now known as The Mall, Luton
Manchester
Middleton
Morecambe
Nelson now known as the Admiral Shopping Centre
Poole now known as the Dolphin Shopping Centre
Shipley
Sunderland
Stretford now known as the Stretford Mall
Wandsworth now known as the Southside Shopping Centre
Wellingborough now known as the Swansgate Shopping Centre